Doctor who was struck off after failed sepsis diagnosis loses High Court appeal

A doctor who failed to diagnose a 75-year-old woman with a severe infection hours before she died, and then tried to “cover up” his mistake, has failed in a High Court bid to overturn the decision to have him kicked out of the profession.

The Medical Practitioners Tribunal – a committee of the General Medical Council (GMC) – found that Dr Allen Demanya failed to diagnose sepsis, and then dishonestly falsified medical records to suggest he had prescribed antibiotics in a timely way when he had not.

It also found that he tried to cover this up by crossing out prescription entries on the medical records.

False representations

The regulator further determined that Dr Demanya made false representations on oath to the coroner at the inquest of his patient’s death.

On December 6 2023, the tribunal decided the doctor’s name should be erased from the medical register due to misconduct, principally dishonesty.

The struck-off doctor brought legal action against the GMC at the High Court in London, claiming the tribunal’s findings were wrong and should be quashed.

He also said being struck off was neither appropriate nor necessary, and even if the other findings stand, suspension would be proportionate.

Overarching obligation

However, Mr Justice Dexter Dias dismissed the appeal against the decision, referring to the need for the public to know the overarching obligation professionals have to deserve the trust the public places in them has a secure foundation.

In a 56-page ruling, he said: “The high ambitions set down in the overarching objective achieve nothing if they merely remain fine words.

“They must be respected, taken seriously and given full effect as living breathing guarantors to members of the public vulnerable through illness that the medical professionals who treat them can be trusted without a second thought.

“That cannot be said of Dr Demanya – he falsified vital medical records about a deeply ill elderly patient to conceal his medical error about her potentially life-threatening condition, sought to cover up his dishonesty and then gave false evidence on oath at the inquest into his patient’s death.”

Mr Justice Dexter Dias added that the tribunal was “correct” and that anything less than erasure of Dr Demanya’s name from the medical register would “damage public confidence” in the regulation of the profession.

The patient in question was taken to the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Wales by ambulance on February 26 2019 and admitted to A&E – where Dr Demanya was working – and died the following day.